TREM2: New candidate gene for AD

Two new papers published in the New England Journal of Medicine report that very rare mutations in a gene called TREM2 increase risk for Alzheimer's in a tiny proportion (<1%) of patients. However, mutations in this gene have previously been linked to other forms of dementia that are distinctly different from Alzheimer's disease: Nasu-Hakola (rare early onset dementia with bone cysts) and frontotemporal lobar dementia. The Cure Alzheimer's Project Alzheimer's Genome Project is actively assessing whether the TREM2 mutations leads to rare form of Alzheimer's or the distinctly different forms of non-Alzheimer's dementia previously reported to be caused by mutations in this gene. Stay tuned.